Discovering causes. Developing cures.

Search form

You are here

News

IND hosts lecture by Nobel Prize scholar

Please join us for this unique talk by Dr. Erling Norrby followed by a conversation with the IND's Associate Director Dr. David Ramsay. The event coincides with the release of Dr. Norrby's book, Nobel Prizes and Nature's Surprises, and will last approximately one hour.

IND staff member receives Great People! award

Angela Lopez, an IND staff member and laboratory assistant, was honored with a "Great People!" award.

Once per quarter, UCSF's School of Medicine bestows these awards to four individuals. Recipients exemplify a commitment to UCSF and add exceptional value to their departments. In order to be nominated, individuals must contribute to their departments, serve as role models, improve their work environments, demonstrate commitment to their work, and inspire others to excel.

IND postdoc wins prize at scientific meeting

Postdoctoral scholar David Berry won 2nd place for his poster presentation at the PRION 2013 meeting. HIs poster, titled "Prion therapeutic efficacy is limited by the emergence of drug-resistant strains," reported his work about how drugs might change the properties of deadly prion proteins. His work has important implications about how and why therapies may or may not be effective.

The annual meeting is the largest international congress devoted to prion research. This year's meeting convened in Banff, Canada.

Congratulations, David!

Mad-Cow Disease May Hold Clues To Other Neurological Disorders

Published in The Wall Street Journal; 3 December 2012

By Amy Dockser Marcus

Scientists believe new ways to treat Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and Lou Gehrig's disease could emerge from research into another neurodegenerative disorder: mad-cow disease.

The rare bovine disorder, which infects cattle, and the human form, called Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, both fall into a category of so-called prion diseases, caused by aberrant proteins that spread aggressively from cell to cell.

While the human variant of mad-cow disease isn't normally lumped together with Alzheimer's, Parkinson's or Lou Gehrig's disease, which affect millions of mostly older people world-wide, the conditions share the ability to spread and wreak havoc through the body. And although there isn't evidence that these more common neurological disorders are transmissible to people, researchers are finding that... Read more ...